Yeast Series: Hefeweizen
Mikkeller ApS

 

 

 

 

 

A - Light hazy copper color with a medium sized, foamy, bubbly, fluffy, white head. Decent retention leaving patchy lace.

S - Interesting aroma for a hefeweizen. Good amount of caramel malt. Touches of banana and clove. Sweet honey is in the background.

T - Not your typical hefeweizen. Caramel, honey, and toffee malt. There are touches of banana and clove that you'd expect, but it isn't close to a typical hefeweizen. Hints of yeasty phenol and lemony flavors. Faint alcohol flavor as well. Reminds me of a pale ale with some hefeweizen aspects.

M - Medium body with above average carbonation. Slightly slick feel.

D - A little on the sweet side with the malt really overtaking the yeast. I had a bit and didn't have trouble finishing this but didn't really want any more.

Notes: Interesting beer, but not my cup of tea. It is intriguing to see what the yeast impacts on the beer without the typical mash, but I don't really enjoy it that much especially for the price. Too much like a pale ale with some banana/clove flavors.

 

Poured from a 33cL bottle into a flared champagne flute.

A: Creamy-full head that rises as time goes on. Lots of bubbles.

S: Interesting yeastiness. Is it really just hefeweizen yeast? Smells almost like Brettanomyces.

T/M: Spicy, rich, and excellent. A zesty romp of a wheat beer, which bears only fleeting resemblance to a 'hefeweizen'. Heavy mouthfeel, smooth malt, entrancing and spicy yeast. Dry, floral, almost hoppy finish.

O: This excellent beer is criminally underrated. A great success, and another example of Mikkeller's ability to subvert styles. Highly recommended. Would drink again.

 

 

 

 

On-tap at the Brick Store Pub's 14th anniversary festivities. Tried alongside the Belgian and American in the yeast series. Pours nicely enough with a hazy golden copper color and a nice head. The problem here is that the base beer just isn't the platform that this yeast needs. With no wheat here, the yeast seems subdued and doesn't achieve the fullness of banana and clove that is usually so nice in this style. Instead, those flavors , while there, seem muted and a bit overwhelmed by the barley graininess of the base beer. It's drinkable, but more of a curiosity than a true hefe.

A - Hazy amber colored beer with an off-white head that leaves a lot of stick on the glass.

S - Wheat, bananas, clove, yeast.

T - Not great, lots of hefeweizen taste with a lot of phenolic yeast with a lot of bitter.

M - Dry finish, kind of tough, alcohol harshness, medium bodied.

O - Not a good beer, couldn't get through much of this.

On-tap at the Brick Store, tasted side-by-side with the Belgian and US versions.

Pours a hazy golden-copper color with a slightly off-white head that leaves decent lacing.

Smells of light pale malts with good amounts of soft bananas and clove aromas.

Tastes very similar to how it smells. Slightly dry pale malts up front are joined quickly by mildly browned banana flavors shortly thereafter. Midway through slight amounts of clove come into play, fading out into a crisp and mildly bitter ending. Mouthfeel is good, with grainier carbonation than the others in the series.

Overall this was my second favorite of the three, the yeast translated well but made it clear that a good grain bill, including wheat, is necessary for a good hefe.

On-tap 6/7/2011 at Track 84 in Warwick, RI, served in a tulip glass.

A: The beer is a deep amber color with a large off-white head that fades slowly and leaves a very think lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains bananas and other fruit, wheat, caramelized malts and a faint touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out with a strong candy-like sweetness and flavors of fruit, caramel and bananas. Then some breadiness from a hearty malt character and yeast comes in. The hops presence is mild and there isn’t much balance. The after-taste is sweet.

M: Smooth and a little crisp, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is sticky.

O: A little tasty, goes down easily, not too filling, good kick, not the best representation of style but that was expected given the purpose of the beer, worth drinking for a while.

Writing a review for this beer is tough. How can you nit-pick and be critical about a style of beer when it wasn't exactly brewed for a specific style? This was a sort of educational piece for we the consumers to learn a bit about yeast's influence in a beer. This was the same base brewed for 5 different beers and the only difference is the yeast.

Thanks to wishuwerebeer for sharing. Poured into a cervoise, this brew appears a hazed copper color with 3 fingers of yellow creamy head that slowly fades. It leaves thick patches of lace on the glass. A swirl revives the cap. This brew is significantly darker and more orange than your anticipated look for a hefeweizen.

The aroma includes the anticipated scents of spices like clove and faint banana notes. The nose is quite muted, almost hidden beneath the fruity character of hops and alcohol esters. There is a little mineral and grassy note across the back.

The taste is lightly spicy with banana and clove. There is a mineral aspect included as well as herbs and a lasting medicinal quality. This is significantly more bitter than you would expect for the style and boasts more alcohol than necessary.

This is a medium bodied brew with a modest amount of carbonation. By all accounts, this is not really a hefeweizen just because that's the yeast that was used. The biggest weakness of this brew, is the brewer sticking to the gameplan and maintaining the integrity of the experiment. The base of malt and hops clashes with the typical hefeweizen style. Where as a normal hefeweizen leans heavily on wheat and the yeast's contribution as the centerpiece of the brew, this example has too much alcohol and hops which overshadows the subtle yeast contribution. The idea behind this series of beer is commedable but they all fall short with the yeast just not pushing forward enough character to balance the big malt, alcohol and hoppy backing.

A: dark hazy copper color, plenty of white head with good retention.

S: floral and earthy, strong hop aroma, sweet malts.

T: hops are out in force! Bitter start to finish with a touch of sweet malts in the middle. I'm not a hop-head so this is certainly not my kind of flavor profile, and it doesn't match the style at all. But hey, let's be open-minded!

M-D: Medium-bodied, light carb, but not super easy to drink due to the hoppiness. An interesting take on the hef style, not sure I'd buy it again though.

Poured from 12oz bottle into a standard pint glass. A tiny gush as I opened this bottle, but didn't lose any beer.

Appearance: Pours a hazy amber with a finger of white fluffy head.

Smell: Banana, spices, very Hefeweizenesqe nose.

Taste: Wheat, spices, yeast, but there is an "off" taste to this. Not exactly sure what it is.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and carbonated properly.

Drinkability: Was hoping this would be more like an "imperial" hefeweizen, but the off taste that I encountered took away from the overall enjoyment of this.

1 of a series of 4 in Yeast Series; all tasted at the same time.

Pours a deep orange amber with a very firm off white, yellow tinged head that is long lasting.

Nose is lovely floral orange nose that is medium assertive and lovely - very fresh, "feminine" and inviting.

Mouthfeel is rich, creamy and bold and tastes well made and is very nicely balanced.

Flavors have a semi sweet strong herb/spice/floral front palate that is delicious that goes to a big and assertive burnt toast and then a nice pine finish. This smells and tastes like a hefeweizen on steroids! There is a hefe character but it is really kicked up several notches to a strong and powerful ale.

This is relatively drinkable despite it's power and likely to go well with big food profiles.